I graduated from HS 40+ years ago, and I ended up top 10% of my class with a whopping 3.6 GPA.
Today, that might get me in the top third, or am I too optimistic?
Forty plus years ago we could complete high school where we actually learned how to do tasks which would lead to immediate employment. Today by the time most kids complete high school they may have covered a lot of different material but most of it is just “stuff” IMO which, with a $3 bill will get them a cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts or a job flipping burgers.
Some of the same jobs are still out there - electrician, plumber, etc. - but a lot of the jobs that high school graduates did in “our day” have totally disappeared or left the country.
I was #10 in my HS graduating class of approximately 150 with a 3.76 GPA. Our GPAs were not weighted. Four above me had a 4.0 (and they shared Valedictorian honors; four others never took a difficult class a day in their lives (read no Honors or AP classes) and one (who happened to be my best friend) edged me out for the number 9 spot. In my day, grades were not inflated, weighted or handed out simply on a whim to pad a student’s college application.